Research with Plymouth University reveals the majority of British parents would welcome a self-assessment on online safety to ensure they're better equipped to educate children on internet risks

AMSTERDAM & SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 09, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
AVG
Technologies N.V.
AVG, +0.00%
the provider of Internet and mobile
security to 150 million active users, today launched the findings of its
research report with Plymouth University entitled "Parents,
Schools and the Digital Divide." As parents struggle to keep pace
with technology, 86 percent agree an online safety assessment would
identify knowledge gaps and enable parents to better educate children
about staying safe online. The findings of the report with 2,000 UK
parents reinforces the importance placed on online safety with more than
half (52 percent) of all parents making school selection decisions based
in part on a school's ability to teach online safety. Of that number,
more than one in ten (13 percent) said online safety credentials would
be "the" deciding factor if selecting a new school now.

Tony Anscombe, AVG's senior security evangelist, comments: "Despite
their confidence, our research shows that parents clearly need help to
stay ahead of how children are using the Internet. We're calling on the
government and forward-thinking schools to support our recommendation
and develop an easy to use assessment for parents, effectively extending
e-safety training to parents. Just as parents agree to an internet usage
policy with a child's school, parents should be tasked with truly
understanding what they're signing up to and how their children are
actually using the internet, both at home and in the school."

Online safety education - whose responsibility is it?

--
Reinforcing the importance placed on e-safety, an overwhelming number
of parents (95 percent) agree with online safety education being
mandatory in schools and nearly nine out of ten (89 percent) agree
that the government needs to do more when it comes to teaching
children right from wrong when it comes to safe use of the Internet

--
Despite this, nearly two-thirds (66 percent) of parents are adamant
that the ultimate responsibility for online safety education falls to
them

--
And while 92 percent of all parents are confident about their own
ability to teach online safety, AVG's study exposes a widening gap
between 'perceived' and 'actual' knowledge, reinforcing the value of a
simple assessment for parents to help bridge this gap

Perception versus reality

--
More than half (56 percent) of parents with children in primary and
secondary school, and 42 percent of parents with teenagers, have not
had a discussion with children about sexual online adult content
despite evidence
that the majority of 14 year old boys and many teenagers have accessed
this content

--
One in ten parents of teenagers who haven't discussed sexual adult
content online believe their child is "too young" for the
conversation, whilst nearly a quarter (23 percent) simply "haven't got
around to it"

--
When it comes to other online threats, nine out of ten (89 percent) of
all parents with children in primary and secondary school believe
their child has not been involved in cyberbullying or sexting (as
either the perpetrator or victim)

--
For teenagers specifically, 86 percent of parents are not aware of
their teenager having experienced this issue, despite evidence
highlighting these as the most frequent Internet issues for children

--
This evidence suggests parents' staggering confidence in their own IT
knowledge is misplaced, with many still in the dark when it comes to
how to educate their children on staying safe online

Anscombe comments further: "We know parents take responsibility of
online safety seriously; half of us base school selection on this and
we're asking the government to do more to support teachers and parents.
Yet we're not living up to the standards we're setting by avoiding
conversations about exposure to explicit adult content, privacy or other
Internet-related threats. It comes as no surprise then that nearly 90
percent of parents aren't aware of whether their child has been exposed
to cyberbullying or sexting - two of the most common Internet risks
facing children. We believe asking parents to sign up to a simple online
safety assessment when completing a school's Internet usage policy would
give parents the starting point they need to further improve their own
IT knowledge.

"With a good understanding of the threats facing children, parents can
make informed decisions about the right safety technologies and settings
to put in place. Complementing this with age-appropriate guidance and
safety rules will ensure children can use the Internet safely and
freely," concluded Anscombe.

Andy Phippen, professor of social responsibility at Plymouth University
comments: "Safe Internet use should be top of mind for all parents;
sexting, cyberbullying, exposure to explicit content and other
internet-related issues are only on the increase. To protect our
children from these dangers both parents and schools need to continually
work to stay ahead of how children use the Internet and of the relevant
guidance we need to provide. An online safety assessment could give
parents an indication of their strengths and weaknesses and working in
partnership with the school, they could identify areas they need to
brush up on, accessing helpful advice and learning materials."

AVG Technologies will be sponsoring the
Child Internet Safety Summit on the 11th July, where more
details from the Parents,
Schools and the Digital Divide report will be discussed. Please
visit www.avg.com
for further press materials.

About the research:

The quantitative research with a sample size of 2,014 parents was
commissioned by AVG Technologies and conducted by research agency Vision
Critical. Parents with children aged from 2-18 were asked to complete an
online survey with the sample randomly selected from the online
community Springboard UK, which is a community of 70,000 British adults
who participate in online surveys and discussions. Discrepancies in or
between totals are due to rounding.

To ensure accurate representation of parents with children across
different ages, an even number of parents with children in the following
age ranges were asked to fill in the survey: 2-3 years old, 4-7 years
old, 8-11 years old, 12-14 years old, 15-18 years old. In cases where
parents had more than one child, parents were asked to provide the age
of their oldest child and to fill in the survey with this child in mind.
To complement the quantitative research findings, Andy Phippen,
professor of social responsibility at Plymouth University, conducted ten
in-depth interviews from the 28th June - 3rd July
2013. The interviews were held via telephone with parents of children
within all of the different age ranges represented in the interviews.

AVG's mission is to simplify, optimize and secure the Internet
experience, providing peace of mind to a connected world. AVG's powerful
yet easy-to-use software and online services put users in control of
their Internet experience. By choosing AVG's software and services,
users become part of a trusted global community that benefits from
inherent network effects, mutual protection and support. AVG has grown
its user base to 150 million active users as of March 31, 2013 and
offers a product portfolio that targets the consumer and small business
markets and includes Internet security, PC performance optimization,
online backup, mobile security, identity protection and family safety
software.

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